Improvement in corn-planters



M. ACKERMANN'.

Corn Planter. I

No. 106,981. Patented Sept. 6, 1870.

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MICHAEL AOKERMAN, OF STEAMBOAT ROCK, IOWA.

IMPROVEMENT IN CORN-PLANTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 106,981, datedSeptember 6, 1870.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, MICHAEL ACKERMAN, ofSteamboat Rock, in the county of Hardin and State of Iowa, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Corn-Planters; and I do herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and exact descriptionthereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to theletters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of thisspecification.

The nature of my invention consists in the construction and arrangementof a corn-planter, as will be hereinafter set forth.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my inventionappertains to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe itsconstruction and operation, referring to the annexed drawings, in which-Figure 1 is a side elevation, and Fig. 2 is a plan view, of my machine.

A represents the frame; B B, the coveringwheels, and (J O therunners,which are the same, or nearly the same, as on machines now inuse. On the upper part of each runner is fastened a thin iron slab, D,of suitable width, which acts as a gage to let the runners plow in theground a uniform depth. On the point of the runners O G are steel knivesE, and on the heels are the boxes G G, fastened by set-screws.

The box Gr with the plunger a is like the one on J. H. Joness improvedhand-planter, patented August 26, 1856, and April 9, 1867, with theexception that in mine the plunger is of uniform width from top tobottom.

The casting G that holds the plunger to its place is made box-like, asshown, with a spring, b, to hold the corn until the plunger drives itthrough.

To the plunger a is fastened a rod, (7, which has an eye on its upperend, and is inserted in a small mortise on a cross-bar, H, in such a waythat either side may work independent of the other. A, on each side, isfastened an iron bar, 6, having a double fork at its lower end.

A rod, f, is pivoted in one of these forks, and runs back, having theaxle of the droppingwheels I passing through its rear end. Another rod,g, pivoted in the other fork of said bar 6, runs under the axle of thedropping- Forward and outside of the frame wheels, and then takes ashort bend upward, having a forked bar, h, pivoted to it. The upper endof this bar h is also forked and pivoted to a bar, it, which runs from astandard, J, on a cross-beam, K, back of the coveringwheels B B, forwardto and in a mortise on the cross-bar H.

The front ends of the rods k 75 are loose in the mortises 011 thecrossbar H, so that they can move back and forth. There is also a lever,L, running crosswise in the middle of the machine, with two chains, i i,connecting with the axle of the dropping-wheels I I, to hold said wheelsup in going to or from the field and when turning the machine. The leverL is also to drop the corn by hand, as will be hereinafter described.

The rods 9 y, when they reach the center of the covering wheels B, areflattened and brought to an edge next the wheel, so as to catch in aratchet-wheel, m, fastened to the covering-wheel, as shown.

On the standard J ,runnin g downward from the cross-beam K, is an iron,M, running forward near the center of the covering-wheel, said ironhaving at its front end a pair of jaws, n a, bent downward, and aspring, 19, between said jaws. In this the end of the rod g will so playas to throw itself out and in of the ratchet-wheel.

The object of this is that in a field that is cloddy and uneven the rodsg g, with all their attachments, will be carried upward while themachine goes over two and a half or three feet of ground, then throwninside the spring. The lower edge of said spring is so bent as to holdthe rod 9 until the dropper-wheels fall in the furrow, and gives theserods a tap and plunges the corn. It will also throw the rod in theratchet-wheel, so that it cannot drop corn until the machine goes twoand a half or three feet farther, and so near the other furrow thatthere will be no danger of dropping between furrows. The dropper-wheelsI, not being attached to the rods 9 g, can fly up as they roll overclods, and do no harm.

The field must bewell harrowed, so it is even, and furrowed out with agood marker, so it leaves a furrow one and a half or two inches deep andfrom five to six inches wide on top.

In working the machine the driver will sit so as to balance the machineto suit, and as soon as the machine crosses a cross-furrow thedropping-wheels fall in the furrow and bear down on rods g 9. These rodswill pull down the plungers by the rods h h and 70 7c, and plunge thecorn out, feeding itself.

In a field where the ground is so bad that this self-planter cannot beused, take off all rods and dropping-wheels belonging to theself-dropper, except the cross-bar H, the rods d d, and plungers a a;then attach the small rods t t, fastened on the cross-bar H, to thelever L, and the machine is a complete handplanter.

Having thus fully described my invention,

